It’s time for a new social contract

The new fear of losing jobs, however, has strengthened their role again. Now is a good opportunity to review the foundations of social partnership between employees, employers and trade unions, and redefine them in view of both the future of work’s promises and challenges.

Carving out a new role for the unions

The core function of trade unions – to negotiate best possible working conditions for their members – is under pressure, from for instance what are known as i-deals (i for idiosyncratic). Here employees negotiate individually tailored working conditions with their managers, such as leaving work at 3 p.m. on Thursdays to pick up a child from the crèche, offset by working until 7 p.m. on Fridays. But while such arrangements are optimal for the individual, they can undermine solidarity with other workers and existing collective agreements.

Accordingly, a new and important challenge for trade unions is to reconcile individual flexibility with collective representation. The need for action is particularly striking in the context of employment via internet platforms, where to date there has been virtually no protection under employment law. The first collective agreement for the workers of an internet-based cleaning company in Denmark has caused something of a sensation.¹

Mapping out new careers  

Although predictions of job losses due to automation have become less extreme, it’s inevitable that occupations will change, some will disappear and new ones will emerge. Which means that building skills as part of an ongoing professional development is all the more important, and employees must be encouraged to critically review their careers and be open to new trends. Here too, there’s a great need for measures based on social partnership, such as a training offer for all workers defined in collective employment agreements, and at the same time an openness to changes in occupation profiles. This is something that has been incorporated into the digitisation strategy of the Unia trade union in Switzerland.²

Promoting participation at all levels

For everyone to benefit from technological innovation, dialogue between all the stakeholders is of utmost importance. There should be direct participation of employees in a company’s technological projects, negotiations between social partners, and exchange at the political level, where research funding and legal regulation set important course for technology development.

The Swiss Federal Railways SBB and the railway staff unions have taken a promising route here by jointly setting up a digitisation fund to finance studies for laying the foundations of a socially acceptable digital transformation at SBB. The first study, in which I participated, was published in early September on Digital Day and is intended to pave the way for a new understanding of workplace cooperation between social partners.^3,4 Specific measures will be drawn up over the next few months.